Quote Originally Posted by Alan Lucker View Post
Speed endurance is more important. I recon make more of your runs more intense, make the easy runs less intense than your current average run. Think of comfy low intensity runs as recovery for the hard sessions. The tougher the speed sessions you can handle, the lower your 5k times will become.
^^This!^^ I don't see the value of short sprints - eg, much below 400m reps to increase speed over 5K and above. Back when I used to train properly the key elements were short intervals, eg 12 x 400, 6 x 800, 3 x mile (eg, 3 miles worth of efforts + warm up / warm down), a tempo run of between 2 and 4 miles, again warm up for 2-3 miles then tempo then 2-3 miles cool off, and a long steady run on Sunday, typically 15ish miles at a steady pace. To put this into context, I was running 70ish miles a week with a couple of days running twice which I realise may not be achievable for some people due to time constraints. That said, I think the fundamental, short intervals, tempo, steady runs still holds true. If you can't have a chat to your training partners on a steady run - it ain't steady enough!